Artist against closure plans
An artist is using their work to help try and save Children and Family Centres in Chichester and Bognor.
An anonymous artist is using their work to help try and save Children and Family Centres in West Sussex.
The art has been placed at the front of the centres in Bognor, Chichester and Felpham, with a further image at a playground in Felpham.
West Sussex County Council is proposing to redesign its Early Years service, saving £1.95m by 2022/23. It says the aim is to ensure the services reach the most vulnerable children and families in the county, helping them as early as possible to make sure they don’t head down the social care route.
The council aims to focus support where it is needed most, working more closely with schools to identify problems and provide help.
Of the 43 children and family centres in the county, the proposal is for 11 to remain open, running fulltime.
A friend of the artist said: “They are saying that support will be redirected and provided in other more targeted ways, but it is not completely clear how this will happen. Recent reports into Early Years support have shown how much these centres and groups make a difference to the community and to the health of families and young children.
“The council say they have widely promoted the community consultation survey about these changes but many families are unaware of the proposed changes and have not seen this information.
“They say the Children Centres are under used by the community, but where are they getting these figures from as they have all been closed/no groups have been running for over a year!
“Our friend has put up the protest artwork in order to make people aware of what’s going on. It’s been a really hard past year for parents and now that things are starting to open up again we find that important resources for families are being taken away permanently.”
Consultation on the proposals ended in May.